Best Management Practices (BMPs) are methods to help developed properties function more like natural, undisturbed forest and meadowland. Water that is conveyed to a lake by an undisturbed watershed is usually quite pure, because the watershed’s soils and plants act as a natural water purification system. BMPs help developed properties mimic natural conditions, preventing sediment and nutrients from entering our surface waters and filtering runoff water through the soil. By implementing BMPs, property owners can help slow the loss of lake clarity.

BMPs for residential properties usually fall into the following categories: vegetating and mulching bare, disturbed soils; infiltrating stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces; paving dirt driveways and roads; and stabilizing or retaining steep slopes and loose soils.

Mulching and vegetating soils helps them to absorb rain and snowmelt like a sponge, mimicking natural conditions. TRPA regulations require that native and/or adaptive vegetation is planted, reducing the amount of irrigation and fertilization needed, thereby reducing nutrient loading and runoff even further. Runoff from impervious surfaces is stored and infiltrated in specially designed systems, which allows the stormwater to filter through the soil instead of letting it collect and run off the property.

(click here) to view a brochure on the natural fit of BMPs and Defensible Space.

Paved driveways are a good BMP because dirt driveways become compacted over time, allowing stormwater to flush dirt off of them into surface waters. Also, vehicle tires pick up sediment from dirt driveways and track it on to street surfaces, where it flushes into storm drains and ultimately Lake Tahoe during the next rainstorm.

Unstable slopes and loose soils can be stabilized in several ways depending on the steepness of the slope, including attractive methods that utilize native vegetation and rock. Steeper slopes may require wood or rock retaining walls, terraces, or willow wattles.

The Best Management Practice (BMP) Retrofit Program represents the primary private sector contribution to the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), with approximately 38,000 private residential, commercial and industrial parcels remaining to be retrofitted with water quality Best Management Practices. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Erosion Control Team and the BMP Retrofit Program are integral components of the Environmental Improvement Program.

How is the Erosion Control Team Funded?
The Erosion Control Team has the lead role in administering the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s BMP Retrofit Program (EIP Project #16) for all developed properties within the Tahoe Basin. The Erosion Control Team is responsible for the BMP Retrofit Program and the Long-Term BMP Maintenance and Monitoring. The team is fully funded by grants through both states, Proposition 13 in California, Nevada State Lands and a Clean Water Act Section 319(h) grant through the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. To date, we have successfully acquired over $1.6 million in grant funds.

Key Elements of the BMP Retrofit Program

1. Education & Community Outreach
1. The Erosion Control and Communications teams have conducted hundreds of presentations and workshops to home owners' associations, contractors, schools, realtors, community organizations and public agencies in and out of the Tahoe Basin.
2. An ongoing media campaign has kept BMPs in the news spotlight throughout each year to ensure property owners stay aware of deadlines and the ease of getting free technical assistance.
2. Design & Implement BMPs to Mitigate the Impacts of Development
1. Resource Conservation Districts have been established in in partnership with to offer free technical assistance to homeowners. The districts design BMPs for homes for free along with backyard conservation information that helps homes become a working part of the ecosystem again. Their work has helped more than 4,000 single-family homeowners get their BMPs done.
2. More than 12,000 properties in the Tahoe Basin have finished their BMPs and helped protect Lake Tahoe. There are still approximately 31,000 to go--you and your neighbors are working together to save this beautiful place.

BMP Site Evaluation and Implementation Statistics:
Cumulative Number of BMPs Implemented
November 1999 - December 2005: 5,962
            - December 2006: 7,602
            - December 2007: 9,039
            - December 2008: 10,961
            - December 2009: 12,397

Program Achievements

• Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, U.S. EPA.
• Certificate of Appreciation, U.S. Senate, Barbara Boxer.
• Distributed approximately 7,000 copies of the Home Landscaping Guide for Lake Tahoe and Vicinity.
• Captured and treated approximately 275,000 cubic feet of urban runoff from residential and commercial properties which otherwise would have entered Lake Tahoe unabated.

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(click here) to go to the BMP website

(click here) to go to the TRPA Design Review Guidelines (5 MB)

(click here) to view a brochure on the natural fit of BMPs and Defensible Space

(click here) for more information and a list of certified professionals